what software to buy?

[kauffman]

My wife and I just bought our first camera a couple of months ago. Loving what we are learning from all the threads. We have been looking at editing software. Can anyone help or make suggestions. Our budget is $75 dollars(not more than). Do we stay with free stuff or buy an app or software. Sorry if this has been answered before. Thanks for all the help. Kauffman

[Val Mansfield]

Zoner is within your budget and I find it quite good. It doesn't do everything photoshop does but does most things, is intuitive and good for sorting and rating photos.

[Richard Lundberg]

Iridient for Mac users.

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi, welcome to CIC, can you add your name and approximate location to your profile? your location will help with advice that we can give you, your name... well thats just so as we can be friendly personally id stick with the free stuff until your budget is a little better did your camera not come with somthing you can use?

[russellsnr]

Hi, I would suggest free to start http://www.on1.com/products/effects9free/

Then look on other forums under for sale sections as many people buy a camera and on occassion there is maybe Adobe Lightroom free with the camera and if they already own Lightroom they sell the free for a lot less than in store.
To learn how to use any of the above OnOne or Lightroom there are loads of tutorias, on the OnOne site and at http://www.on1.com/products/effects9free/

Russ

[Thlayle]

Kauffman,

Given budget considerations and that you are just starting out, I would suggest going with Picassa, a free download from Google. It's easy & versatile. For something in the $75 range, there are good options out there but I started with freeware programs way back when and they served my purposes well. Picassa was one step along the way for me. At the time, I found I liked it better than the paid-for program I was using (Paintshop Pro).

[JR1]

My wife and I just bought our first camera a couple of months ago. Loving what we are learning from all the threads. We have been looking at editing software. Can anyone help or make suggestions. Our budget is $75 dollars(not more than). Do we stay with free stuff or buy an app or software. Sorry if this has been answered before. Thanks for all the help. Kauffman

Paintshop Pro version 7 NOT the Corel version, the JASC version works on ALL versions of windows, £15 on Ebay, I use it after 18 years as it to me is still great and easier that most new software and at £12 what have you lost trying it

[JR1]

Kauffman,

Given budget considerations and that you are just starting out, I would suggest going with Picassa, a free download from Google. It's easy & versatile. For something in the $75 range, there are good options out there but I started with freeware programs way back when and they served my purposes well. Picassa was one step along the way for me. At the time, I found I liked it better than the paid-for program I was using (Paintshop Pro).

Ah but WHAT paintshop pro be specific as JASCS version was better

[HaseebM]

Paintshop Pro version 7 NOT the Corel version, the JASC version works on ALL versions of windows, £15 on Ebay, I use it after 18 years as it to me is still great and easier that most new software and at £12 what have you lost trying it

Yeah, PSP Pro 7 or even 6 are great buys. Also get some freebies which are useful.

[JR1]

Yeah, PSP Pro 7 or even 6 are great buys. Also get some freebies which are useful.

I have used PSP4/5/6 and finally 18 years ago 7, it works with EVERY windows inc 8.2, I use it day in day out, it has cost me 0.004p per day

[tclune]

What camera do you have? Do you shoot in raw format? If you are using a DSLR, you should first be shooting in raw. It will give you a lot more room in your image data for editing. Next, you should look at the software you got with your camera for free, This will support the raw format of your camera better than any third party software, and allow you to make significant adjustments to your images. Once you have gotten familiar with that software, you may find it inadequate in particular ways for what you want to do (or it may be just what you want.) If you want more capability, you'll know what you want above what the free software offers and be able to make a buying choice that is tuned to your actual needs. FWIW

[JR1]

What camera do you have? Do you shoot in raw format? If you are using a DSLR, you should first be shooting in raw. It will give you a lot more room in your image data for editing. Next, you should look at the software you got with your camera for free, This will support the raw format of your camera better than any third party software, and allow you to make significant adjustments to your images. Once you have gotten familiar with that software, you may find it inadequate in particular ways for what you want to do (or it may be just what you want.) If you want more capability, you'll know what you want above what the free software offers and be able to make a buying choice that is tuned to your actual needs. FWIW

Refuse........ you should NOT (do NOT have to ) be shooting in RAW, it is NOT a pre-requisite

WHY shoot RAW, you shoot wattever is best suited to your needs

RAW, no thank you never have except weddings and then it is RAW to one card JPG to another

[russellsnr]

Hi, Again. Sorry forgot this.
DXO Optics FREE till 28th Feb 15
http://sharewareonsale.com/s/dxo-optics-pro-elite-sale

and for activation

http://www.dxo.com/us/advancedphotoshop

Russ

[kauffman]

Thank you all so much!!! We bought a Nikon D3100. It came with software(my five year old can use my smart phone better than me). I can't figure out Nikon's software. I can get it to download but haven't figured out how to get the pictures to editing.
I thought maybe editing software for Nikon was more for Pro's. That's why I asked about software. It's probably just me but I thought maybe there is an easier software to use. Thank you all so much for the help, I should have included this info last night but it was late. I already have more question. THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

[tclune]

I'm not sure which software they're bundling now. I find Capture NX-D very awkward to work with. View NX2 is a decent enough (although quite minimal) editor. I continue to use it as my raw editor. I do basic editing in View NX2, such as white-balance correction, exposure compensation, highlight and shadow protection, applying lens corrections as needed, cropping, etc. Then, if I want to do more elaborate editing, I output the data as 16 bit-per-channel TIFF and import it into an editor that supports layers (I use Corel PaintShopPro. Any version from X4 on supports 16 bits per channel editing if memory serves. This editor supports some PhotoShop-compatible plugins, which can be useful. If you opt for the Corel PaintShopPro, there is no reason to bother with the more expensive "Ultimate" version, which just adds a bunch of additional applications that I at least never use anyway.) FWIW

[ajohnw]

If you want a true editing application that is cheap and fairly simple to use Corel's After Shot Pro is fairly capable but there isn't much user help around. A few video's can be found on youtube by one person. There are only about 1/2 dozen of them. Worth looking at because some people do not realise that it will work with layers. These aren't complicated ones more a method of selecting areas for adjustments. The other thing that isn't obvious is adjusting the feathering on brushes when they are used to paint what are effectively selections - just position the cursor in the feathering area and use the mouse wheel. They do have extensive docs on the web but not much in that line comes with it. The other thing that I would add is that they do a 32bit and a 64bit version. There are a lot of plugins to do all sorts of things available for the 32 bit version but currently few for the 64. The penalties for running 32bit are tiny really and not worth worrying about even on large files. How much memory the machine it runs on has is far more important in that respect. It's happy to work on raw jpg or what ever. It also has a user forum which can be helpful. I see it as cheap not bad place to start if some one want to edit shots. - and I don't use it but did for a while concluding that I could if I wished do the vast majority of things I might want to do with it. I use open source and used their trial until it ran out. It's pretty capable but as with any package that has similar capabilities there will be a learning curve.

Of the free stuff Rawtherapee along with the GIMP is gaining some popularity but they are both rather complex. Rawtherapee for instance has masses of adjustment and beginners are inclined to use them in the wrong order. GIMP is easy to use for some things like blending 2 images in various ways. It isn't a raw file converter though and I wouldn't suggest that some one used the default one it normally uses.

If you have a Nikon camera and want to work from raw you may find it easier to use there software for that and export to another package for further editing. It's all down to the way Nikon handle camera profiles. It's different to other makes and does a pretty good job more easily from their own software.

John
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[kauffman]

Thanks all for the great advice. After reading, we decided to stay with free software from Google: Picassa . I tried
To figure out the Nikon software but couldn't. It didn't take long to figure picassa out. Also after reading I should figure out
what I'm doing for free before spending more money. Thanks again!!!!!

[pixaeiro]

If you are a Windows user you can use PixaFlux, a free parametric image editor where you use a node graph to build the image workflow.

This video shows how the software works and the advantages of using a node graph over a traditional layers stack.

I have been working on this project for a few years and I am adding new features every day.

[dennybeall]

If you find you really enjoy working with the photos you can consider splurging about 10 bucks a month and get the use of Lightroom and Photoshop. Adobe Bridge comes with that package as well. Be careful though, you can get really into photo post processing. It can be addictive.

[inkista]

One option nobody's mentioned is Adobe Photoshop Elements. It's US$74.99 on Amazon.